The Charge of Heresy

In the previous posts we have seen that heresy is not what we think. Heresy is not a set of ideas which condemns someone to hell if they believe them. No, heresy is the act of dividing or separating from other believers. The true “heresy” is divisiveness. In fact “heresy” itself is not even a translation of the Greek word from which it comes. If we were to translate it, it would be translated “division” or “sect.”

So how did we come to define “heresy” as a damnable doctrine? Where did this idea come from?

Early Church Heresy

In large part, it developed back in the early days of the church when many of the Biblical scholars spoke and wrote Greek. When they encountered another teacher who had a questionable doctrine, they would accuse that person being a heretic, that is, someone who was going to divide the church if they kept teaching their ideas.

Through their writings, sermons, and letters, they would call on the person to not sacrifice the unity of the church for the sake of a false idea.

But usually, this second scholar was just as smart and intelligent as the first. And so in his writings, sermons, and letters, he would argue that it was not his ideas that were wrong and thus creating division in the church, but those of his opponent which were wrong. It was the opponent which was creating the division, not himself. Thus, it was the other scholar who was being divisive.

Frequently, the argument wasn’t as much about theology, as it was about pride, power, and politics, as each person sought a place of higher prominence or position within the church. If you thought you deserved to become a bishop over a town, and it looked like another man might get the position, one way to get the job for yourself is to accuse the other man of being divisive and teaching false doctrine.

Remember also that back at this time, there was no such thing as church and state. The two were intimately connected. And so if this mutual finger-pointing and name-calling escalated, eventually one side would get the authorities involved to “keep the peace” in the region by having them go arrest, imprison, and possibly even execute their opponent. From time to time in Church history, wars began this way.

Avoid the War: Execute Heretics

Over time, the charge of “heresy” became associated with the whole package of false doctrine and divisiveness, and the preferred way of executing heretics was by beheading or burning at the stake. And as a result, if a church leader simply hinted that someone was bordering on the “heretical” this was enough for them to back down and fall in line with what the church currently taught. So in this way, the charge of “heresy” became a way to maintain control and power over other people.

But occasionally, a person would not back down, occasionally even calling the church leaders heretics, and the cycle begins all over again. And every time someone taught something that differed from what a prominent church leader taught, it became a showdown for who was right, with the winning side got to write a new paragraph into the ever-expanding Creeds of Christendom. I have written about some of this in an earlier post: The History of Doctrinal Statements.

Heresy and Division

Ironically, while these Creeds were intended to promote unity, they really just caused the church to become ever-more fractured and disunified, for as the complexity of doctrinal statements increased, so also did the charge of “heretic.” Doctrinal statements, which were supposed to create unity, actually became the cause of division.

And now today, we continue to trend. Anytime someone disagrees with us or our group’s doctrinal statement, we feel justified in leveling the charge of heresy against them. In this way, the charge of heresy creates division, and thus become “heresy” itself.

Comments

Not much has changed, has it, except in most places these days we can’t get the state to arrest, imprison and execute those with whom we disagree. So we must make do with online character assassination. (I admire you Jeremy in that you do not do that.)

When I looked at the picture showing all the beating and murdering and Sam’s comment, It made me think that less than a hundred years ago women and the poor had no rights. Today that does not apply in most democracies, unfortunately where religions such as the Muslim and the Hindu reign that picture is a reality.

We as christians need to show a better way, but how can we when the Church is divided (heretics) no wonder other beliefs laugh and scorn us. The Roman Catholics believe they are the only ones going to heaven, while the rest of us think we have got it right and there will only be Baptists or Methodists there. We are a rubbish witness. We argue about doctrine which Jesus did not give us, we use it to control and be powerful, that is why people argue and bully.

Jesus said “I will build my Church on this Rock” we have destroyed the true meaning of that and think He was going to build it on a week vulnerable man, the Rock is Jesus. Jesus meant us to have one Church.

In China the small groups of Christians come together and become followers of Jesus, believing in the same thing. We missionaries went over to Sort them out and taught them doctrine of different Churches which caused division (heretics) The Chinese told the various missionaries to leave and went back to a united Church. Read Brother Yun’s book Living Water. In China there is an official Church which the government allow but it is controlled and spied on, all other Christian gatherings are against the law.

The One Church is growing and unless the established Churches abandon their doctrine, rules and get rid of all their regalia, they will continue to die, but Jesus Church will not die. The people will rule with Christ as their head. All Bishops, Vicars, Fathers, Pastors, Deacons, Curates etc will go.

At the base of this reply is the command ‘Submit Comment’ it is only in submitting to God and to one another that Jesus Church will conquer the whole cosmos.

Romans 8 v 18 to 39 at the moment I have contracted Gastric Flu and believe you me I am groaning but that is nothing in comparison to the groaning of the Cosmos and all living creatures. God Himself is groaning, but there is a sure hope that like my illness everything will be restored and Jesus will reign.

Clive, What a great comment. Yes, 2000 years ago, part of what Jesus did was show us a better way to live. We, as his followers, are to carry on His vision and show the rest of the world how to live as well. We do the exact opposite when we argue and fight.

im sorry but your misinformed the catholic church does not teach there the only ones going to heaven and i disagree the rock was peter Jesus was the builder thats why he changed peters name from simon to peter which im sure you know peter means rock ,The one church is a;ready here its the catholic church any one baptizied in the trinatarium form becomes part of that church which is the body of christ .you can call yourself whatever you want baptist ,born again ,methodist, etc but you belong to the universal church where you get the word catholic which mens universal.there was one holy catholic apostolic church for 1500 years then father martin luther on his own authortithy not GODS decided to try and start his own which mutated into know 1000s of different competing groups with 1000s of different interprataions and ideas and much confusion .obviously a failed experiment which leaves many good hearted loving christians in confusion and away from the church Jesus left them the catholic church

Jeremy, you are a great teacher! I have never heard this before and I like what you are saying. The theory is good but how can it work in practice. I used to be in a denomination that was hung up on women in ministry. When they finally began to soften on the matter, there was a more conservative group that were convinced that heresy was creeping in and left to formed another division. How do Christian remain united when such disagreement exists? Tom

I think that Unity is a choice we sometimes have to make, much like love. Agape love doesn’t always feel so loving, but it is a choice to treat others with respect and dignity, and serve them because they too are loved by God. So also with unity. We can disagree, but if we can love in spite of the disagreements, we can remain unified. Disagreements are okay (and healthy). Disunity is not.

In a practical level, how does part of a church that wants women to be pastors get along with the part of the church that does not? Maybe in such cases, this is where the two sides can gather separately to worship and serve as they see fit, but neither side should condemn or judge or bad-mouth the other side, and both sides should be willing to do things together that they can do – such as go serve in the community.